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Immigration Daily News RMA David Coote has his identity stolen by an unregistered fraudsterAustralian Immigration Daily News
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RMA David Coote has his identity stolen by an unregistered fraudster
The following information has been made known to Migration Alliance today. Mr Coote, a RMA has had his identity stolen and used. The unregistered fraudster has also used the Commonwealth emblem on emails which are being used to dupe unwitting clients and get them to part with money.
David Coote wrote to me this morning with the following message:
If anyone knows someone who can follow up these predators, feel free to forward it to them.
An email chain David Coote received is extremely alarming:
From: XXXXXX XXXXX
Sent: Friday, 5 December 2014 4:54 AM
To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Subject: report
Importance: High
Dear Mr. Coote,
I don’t what to think but below to this email you'll find an email that comes "supposedly" from you.
Because I had deposit a lot of money.
Im kind of desperate.
Please get back to me ASAP.
Kind regards,
xxxxx xxxxxx
From: Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship Sydney <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
>
Reply-To: Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship Sydney <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
>
Date: Sunday, November23, 2014 9:11 PM
To: Microsoft Office User This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Subject: Collection fee
[DIBP'S EMBLEM DISPLAYED AND LOCATED HERE ON THE ORIGINAL EMAIL HAS BEEN REMOVED BY LIANA ALLAN AS IT IS COMMONWEALTH PROPERTY]
AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP
Foreign emigrant affairs enquirers’ center
Office Address:
Sydney CBD Office
26 Lee Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Fax: (02) 9032 4061
Visiting the Office:
In order to visit this office or to speak with an Immigration Information Officer, you must have an appointment scheduled by Australia department of immigration and Citizenship.
Operating Hours:
Opening hours all offices: Mon, Tues, Thur and Fri: 9.00 am to 4.00 pm; Wed 9.00 am to 1.30 pm
Dear xxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxx,
This is to inform you that your visa collection fee is for complete your traveling documents and granting you work for 4 years in Australia. You are to contact the Australia department of labor along with your visa collection fee receipt and make your collection fee payment before Wednesday, 26 November 2014.
Kind Regards,
Mr. DAVID COOTE
Australia department of Immigration and citizenship
Sydney Australia
Fax: (02) 9032 4061
= = = = =
CONFIDENTIALITY/AUTHORITIES:
The information asked for on this Australia Entry Documents assessments is requested pursuant to Section 222 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Section 222(f) provides that the records of the Australia Citizenship/Immigration and of diplomatic and consular offices of the Australia Federation pertaining to the issuance and refusal of visas or permits to enter Australia shall be considered confidential and shall be used only for the formulation, amendment, administration, or enforcement of the immigration, nationality, and other laws of the Australia Federation. Certified copies of such records may be made available to a court provided the court certifies that the information contained in such records is needed in a case pending before the court. PURPOSE: The Australia Immigration Authority uses the facts and Documents you provide to us primarily to determine your classification and eligibility to settle permanently in Australia Individuals who fail to complete his requirements or who do not provide all the requested information may be denied Australia visa and working Permit.
ROUTINE USES: If you are issued an immigrant visa and are subsequently admitted to Australia as an immigrant, the Department of Homeland Security will use the information to issue you a Permanent Resident Card, and, if you so indicate, the Social Security Administration will use the information to issue a social security number.
The information provided may also be released to federal agencies for law enforcement, counter terrorism and homeland.
For members of the public reading this article, David Coote and his details can be located at www.mara.gov.au. Any emails coming from an email address which is not published on the MARA website are NOT from David Coote, our member and fellow RMA.
This matter has been reported to DIBP's Fraud and Integrity section in Canberra.
Comments
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Friday, 05 December 2014It's fraudulent but is this identity theft ? Someone is using publicly available information and presenting themselves as someone else, this is quite different to using confidential or other non public information to impersonate to someone.
The reason I'm drawing the distinction is that there is no mechanism to prevent a fraudster impersonating a RMA to the point of lodging and processing visa applications. It happens already. DIBP has no process to verify the person lodging the application is the actual RMA.
This could immediately be implemented by only allowing communications through the contract details shown on the MARA register (after all, a RMA is required to list all offices), but there are other methods that could be used. -
Sunday, 07 December 2014
Maybe our MARA registration and details should not be so publicly available to anyone
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Monday, 08 December 2014
made a complaint to OMARA about an overseas firm using the OMARA logo and MIA logo illegally . They did nothing !!! They claim the have no jurisdiction or power to deal with any overseas websites
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Tuesday, 09 December 2014
OMARA has done nothing to stop agents renting out their Number and name to overseas and local unregistered consultants for a fee or a % of the cases sold . All agents who are in numerous declared /undeclared commercial arrangements should provide a statutory declaration they have total control over all aspects of the client file from beginning to end ....
sub contracting must stop......it deceives clients -
Wednesday, 11 February 2015
I'm facing a similar issue now and I'm kind of disturbed. I received a job advertisement from silversea cruise line, I submitted my cv and any other requirement for employment. I filled an application form and surprisingly I got the job with a contract letter to be signed and also given a visa/work permit form to fill and submit to australia department of immigration and citizenship of which they confirmed my request, to be honest, it all showed legitimate forms with Australian logo on them, I was really convinced until I received a mail similar to the one above indicating that I make payment to one McGraw O'Neal marthinus city: Conakry in Guinea. So I decided to contact the company(silversea cruise lines ltd) to really confirm if I've secured a job with them but to no avail. It kept me thinking because I'm in serious search for a job to support my family. I decided to search for mr David coote and find out if all this is genuine until I pup in to this page. I think something serious should be done about this because it looks very very real, with contract letters, visa forms etc I was seriously searching for money to make the payment because I'm in need of a job. Still searching for job with a second class upper in BBA(accounting) here in Ghana
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Wednesday, 11 February 2015
work permit.com in London are claiming to be registered agents and an MIA member . This firm has been deregistered as UK immigration advisers and is unable to provide UK migration advice . They now base their website in Latvia
I have notified the MIA and the department over 7 months ago .......and have received no response . Both these bodies did not even bother to reply ..........very sad reflection on both -
Tuesday, 17 February 2015
I got a job offer from people claming to be part of Norwegian Cruise Line, then they accepted me so I submited my CV and a Crew/Seaman Temporary Visa Application Form as well as an offer letter, which everything seemed very legit, they also requested me to get them a copy of my passport. Then they forced me to pay $365USD for a Foreign Labor Certificate to this person "McGraw O'Neal Marthinus" , until I realized that the e-mail adresses domains were from free services, and when a formal company is sending you an e-mail they have their own domains, likewise I found the case above from the user "Marfo Blankson emmanuel" , which is the same patron of this job offer but with another cruise line name, so I assumed that this was a scam and stopped to communicate with them
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Tuesday, 17 February 2015
I hope you didn't make the payment@franklin? because I didn't
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Friday, 20 February 2015
OMG THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME THIS WEEK TOO...P&0 CRUISE ALL SEEMED GOOD UNTIL THE FEE PART HAHAHA BE CAREFULL GUYS ITS A SCAM..
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Wednesday, 01 April 2015
wtf i was about to make that mistake....thanks guyz...
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Thursday, 30 July 2015
Be careful, scammers are still trying to catch up people offering cruise jobs. Just received the same information from australia-foreigndept@newlabor.net to make a payment to "Mrs. O'Neal Marthinus McGraw (Conakry, Guinea)" requesting a labor certificate. Every communication very professional and official (with logos and signatures), really scary!
Also be careful with the supposed person at this address:
Mrs. Ruckstuhl Hamblen
Assistant Recruitment C/O
Human Resources
P&O Cruises line
PO Box 2006, North Sydney NSW 2059
Australia
Fake! Fake!
Immigration blog
A similar incident happened to me last week. I reported it to DIBP, OMARA, MIA, MA and the police. The feedback seems to suggest it is happening more and more frequently.